Friday, February 12, 2016

Government Endorsed Happiness

Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. that is the mantra, the destiny, that our American forefathers included in the Declaration of Independence. Well move over Thomas Jefferson, The united Arab Emirates have done you one better. They have created a new cabinet member, the Minister of Happiness.

I have a fair amount of skepticism of any government led initiative to make the common persons life better. Actually creating a position that someone will be charged to "align and drive government policy to create social good and satisfaction,"seems like a token move, an appeasement, to cover up all the crap that is normally shoved down people's throats. Will the new Minister, Ohoo Al Roumi, be given access to intervene and infuse her strategies in the business other ministers are in charge of? Will she see a policy, and if she knows it will create hardship for a segment of their society, be able to put a halt to it going forward?

What makes people happy? I can only speak for myself. I want to know that I, my family, my friends, and neighbors (global) have clean and safe communities. I want a good education system that turns out young people prepared for service and leadership in the future.I want jobs for all these same people that are adequate to support needs and even perhaps a few wants. I want the opportunity to age with dignity, having resources in retirement that reflect the contributions I've been making, and not be afraid that all my retirement savings could be wiped out because of a tanking economy. With all these hopes, I want to laugh and have some fun each day. I want to uncork a bottle with friends, and laugh like we are 15 again. While I don't need to spend with abandonment to enjoy life and be happy, I don't want to count every penny before buying a little treat. I want to enjoy the four seasons, even winter, inside and out because of adequate clothes, shelter, and utilities.

I bet there's a fair number EAU citizens that might have a similar list of things that make them happy. I'll be curious to learn what the everyday person feels now, and years down the road, how this happiness minister delivers.

4 comments:

UAE is way behind Bhutan on this one. In 1972 the king announced that it would judge itself on its Gross National Happiness. It was a commitment to building an economy to serve Bhutan's culture based on Buddhist spiritual values instead of western material development which is measured by gross national product.

You may have made my point FC. Having spent the last 5-7 years working on strategies to support integration into the education system for thousands of Bhutanese refugees in Minnesota,I believe happiness measures seems to have missed the mark there as well.

As we know some are never happy despite their lifestyle and some are happy despite having very little. Politicians are not going to change anyone's life in the happiness stakes. They may pass policies to improve aspects of modern life but this in no way relates to happiness. I could go on with this but I won't lol.

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